swearing

Pluralswearings

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act of taking an oath or making a solemn, binding promise.

   Like signing a contract, but spoken aloud instead of written.

   The swearing of the oath sealed his loyalty to the crown.

   Citizenship ceremonies end with the swearing of allegiance before a judge.

   Similartaking, pledging

   Note

   Linguists treat an oath as speech that acts: saying the words is the binding. The noun is both countable and uncountable. The swearing of allegiance names one ceremony, while the plural swearings stacks up repeated oaths. Daniel Defoe, writing as D. F. in An Essay upon Projects (1693), scoffs at the "asseverations, damnings, and swearings" that make no one more believable. His list already puts oath beside curse, the overlap carried by the verb form.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of swear.

   The recruits were swearing allegiance as the flag was raised.

   He kept swearing under his breath while fixing the engine.

   Note

   One spelling does two jobs. After be it is the progressive verb (they were swearing allegiance), and as a subject or object it is a gerund (swearing is not allowed here). Because it carries every meaning of swear, only context separates the oath from the curse. Sam Leith, in The Guardian Weekly in 2013, argued that the two are entwined, with bad language rooted in vows. In Northern England and Scotland it can also mean taking a short rest from work.

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